With its fizzy, irresistible take on Twelfth Night, Actors' Theatre transports the Shakespearean comedy to the 1980s to goofy effect. The play centers on mistaken identity and multiple cases of love - or lust - at first sight.

Margaret Quamme, For The Columbus Dispatch

With its fizzy, irresistible take on Twelfth Night, Actors’ Theatre transports the Shakespearean comedy to the 1980s to goofy effect.

The play centers on mistaken identity and multiple cases of love — or lust — at first sight.

Viola (a feisty and charming Kayla Jackmon) thinks that her twin brother, Sebastian (Cornelius Hubbard Jr.), has died in the shipwreck that has landed them both in a new country. Disguising herself as a young man, she renames herself Cesario and takes a position as servant to Duke Orsino (Andrew Blasenak).

Lovelorn Orsino is pining for Olivia (Ashley Frisch), who scorns him in favor of the horrified Cesario/Viola. Meanwhile, pretentious Malvolio (Jesse Massaro) also has his eye on Olivia (and her money), a plan that is foiled by Olivia’s constantly drunken uncle, Toby (Andy Falter); his easily rattled pal Andrew Aguecheek (Adam Poe); and crafty maid Maria (Susan Wismar), who has her own designs on Toby.

Director Mandy Fox makes good use of the excesses of the 1980s for comic effect. The decade comes across as a genial, none-too-bright era during which costuming and posturing trump sensible behavior and sex is the guiding force behind most decisions.

The play is stripped down to two hours, with dialogue playing second fiddle to physical comedy.

Massaro shines as the preening, proud Malvolio, condescendingly rigid at first, then uproariously embarrassing as he follows some ill-advised recommendations in his attempts to win Olivia, who behaves like a cat in heat as she pursues Cesario.

Falter has frat-boy appeal as soused Toby, who occasionally rouses himself from his stupor to execute some deft dance moves, and Wismar’s wry, drawled delivery makes Maria a delight.

Even the smaller roles — including Ben Sostrom as both a fey sea captain and an Italian-accented, pugnacious friend of Sebastian’s — stand out.

With a woman (the delightfully sarcastic and witty Liz Light) playing the usually male role of the wise Fool, and with actresses who tower over their male counterparts and exceed them in emotional energy, the production plays with already-clear questions of the meaning of gender.

Emily Jeu’s playful costumes, which run to skintight leggings and Miami Vice suits, will bring back memories for anyone who survived the decade — as will the pop music, which both serves as melody for Shakespeare’s lyrics and deftly bridges the scenes.

Twelfth Night can sometimes come across as sour, but this production skirts that problem.

It’s too bouncy and sweet-natured to be anything but fun.

margaretquamme@hotmail.com

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